1. the crew repor
72 r & r > watersports focus
O
ne of the most horrifying scenarios yacht crew can face
is a guest falling ill or having a terrible accident, yet how
should crew feel if their guests are the sort of thrill-seekers
who willingly puts themselves in danger? In certain parts of the
world where the local dive schools offer shark baiting this is the
scenario in which crew could find themselves.
Shark baiting is being peddled by charlatan dive schools in
shark-dense regions like Florida, the Bahamas and South
Africa as “adventure eco-tourism”. Many of these operations
assume the guise of conservationists; they argue that in
being fed sharks are becoming more accustomed to human
interaction, causing them to see humans as non-threatening.
They also hide their activities behind the “anti-finning” front,
suggesting that they are educating people not to fear sharks
and therefore support anti-finning movements. This propaganda
has attracted many tourists who are evermore thirsty for danger.
One website promises, “You will skip a heartbeat or two the
first time the shadow of a ten-foot-long shark emerges from
the haze and materialises before your eyes. The adrenaline will
be unbeatable.” At some schools brave punters even receive a
certificate of attendance.
The website of one notorious dive expedition owner (who
was recently placed under criminal investigation after one
of his clients was reportedly mauled to death by a shark
near Grand Bahamas) looks like it has been thinly disguised
as a marine conservation site with colourful photographs
of fish. However within the site’s wording is the promise of
“big animal” encounters and, “For shark lovers and the more
adventurous, we offer specialised great hammerhead and tiger
shark expeditions.” This reveals the true intention of the dive
operation, reeling in ambitious dive tourists.
Another website, Xanadu Undersea Adventures, offers clients
a DVD and photography of their adventures of feeding “up to
20 Caribbean reef sharks in the open ocean”. This is typical of
the new craze of shark photography, which some savvy dive
instructors have adopted as a sure way to pull in the punters.
By Juliet Benning
The reality is that shark baiting is
extremely dangerous and has been
banned in several locations.

2. r & r > watersports focus 73
the crew repor
Adventurous divers love to have their daredevil moment
immortalised to show disbelieving friends back home.
The reality is that shark baiting is extremely dangerous and
has been banned in several locations including Florida, Hawaii,
the Caymans and many other parts of the world. Despite this,
some countries like Roatan, the Bahamas and St Maarten have
failed to prevent the practice and diving schools have shifted
operations to these regions.
There is plenty of footage on YouTube of shark baiting. Some
of it illustrates sharks at their most docile, calmly swimming
amongst divers, however in other clips the savage potential of the
animals demonstrates exactly why feeding them is tempting the
worst possible outcome (try “shark busts through cage” for a real
shocker!). That is not to say that sharks are the aggressive man-
eating monsters they have been portrayed as by popular culture.
Indeed, statistics prove that unprovoked attacks have been rare in
the past. Sharks rarely attack humans intentionally and this is a fact
that rogue dive operations emphasise. Attacks often occur when
sharks mistake humans for seals. Usually after one exploratory bite
they abandon the mistaken “prey”. In the grand scheme of things the
chances of actually dying from a shark attack are extremely slim.
Despite this there has been a worrying trend toward attacks
in specific areas that dive schools target for their baiting
operations. There are several examples of this happening
in recent months. In March a shark that may have been
manipulated by local scuba diving operators to associate
humans with food attacked and killed a teen surfer in St Johns,
South Africa. Many South African surfers blame scuba diving
operators who bait sharks on the increase in shark attacks. In
February 2008 a European dive tourist on holiday in the Bahamas
died after being attacked by a shark that was antagonised with
fish bait by reckless scuba divers.
Another high profile attack was that of the US daredevil stuntman
Erich Ritter in the Bahamas in 2002. Ritter is famous for hand feeding
bull sharks and swimming outside the cage with great white sharks.
During a shoot for the documentary he was making about how
unlikely sharks bites are, he was standing in shallow water when
a chummed-in bull shark decided to take a chunk out of his calf.
Unsurprisingly the baited and hungry shark was indiscriminate in
his food choice. The incident took place at Walker’s Cay, a popular
shark-feeding site that goes by the alternative description of “shark
conservation and education centre”.
One of the most dangerous tactics employed by divers is “free
chumming”, where fish parts are scattered from dive boats to
attract sharks. Other methods used by divers include baiting
sharks with frozen blocks of fish scraps that thaw slowly,
releasing only minimal amounts of bait. Some operations use
a chain-suited shark wrangler who is solely responsible for
distributing bait at a substantial distance from the divers.
It is not only humans who are endangered by shark feeding;
the sharks themselves learn behaviour that could effect their
survival. Marine biologists have noted that fed sharks learn
to expect food from people and no longer exhibit their natural
caution. Scientists explain that feeding sharks is like feeding the
bears at Yellowstone Park, making them more aggressive around
people as they compete with each other for food scraps. Many
sharks in feeding areas will be conditioned into associating
boats with handouts, therefore lowering their guard and making
them more vulnerable to fishermen or other larger sharks. Often
the dive masters themselves show little respect for the animals;
in March 2005 a shark cage operator mutilated a shark after it
damaged his buoy and sank his cage.
Dr George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark
Research at the University of Florida, explains that sharks have
become “trained” by dive school operations and tourists have
come to expect more thrills from their experience, with sharks
being exploited as “an underwater circus”. Dr Burgess described
how sharks flock to known feeding sites upon hearing the
sound of an engine in a “classic Pavlovian response”. The large
concentration of sharks in one area means that other areas of
the ocean are lacking the natural apex predator, changing the
fundamental ecology. In one case in the Bahamas a few years ago
fishermen capitalised on a known shark diving site by catching all
the sharks in the area and decimating the population.
Dr Burgess asserts that cage diving is the safest way of seeing
sharks underwater. He said that divers swimming without a
cage with the larger, more aggressive species of shark, such
as tiger sharks, bull sharks and great whites, were foolish and
lacked common sense. He stated that any diver keen to attempt
dangerous non-cage dives should fully accept that the outcome
could be serious injury or death. Repercussions would not solely
be restricted to one individual, as there would be a serious
backlash within the local community where tourist levels would
drop with prospective visitors becoming frightened of swimming
in the area. In the aftermath sharks would continue to be
indicted as bloodthirsty killers.
Sharks should be appreciated and admired as the powerful
and beautiful wild beasts they are, but seeing them in their
natural environment is extremely rare. Divers who happen upon
them without baiting them are seeing them in their true form.
Dive tourists who are paying large amounts of cash to swim
in a chummed feeding ground are witnessing an underwater
moneymaking spectacle. It is time to leave the sharks to get on
with what they do best: cruising the oceans as the natural apex
predator. ■
Image courtesy of Sharkwater.
Sharks rarely attack humans
intentionally and this is a fact that
rogue dive operations emphasise.
Feeding sharks is like feeding the
bears at Yellowstone Park.
Any diver keen to attempt
dangerous non-cage dives should
fully accept that the outcome
could be serious injury or death.